On Being A Fun Mom And Making My Own Cider

I have sooo many pictures from our fabulous vacation in Pentwater, and you will sit here and you will look at them and you will like it.  Because I am inviting you to be privy to the photo-documentation of our lives here at the Lloyd house, and how often are you going to get that kind of opportunity in life? Okay fine, go grab yourself a latte first.  Better?  Now, let's discuss how much of a nature girl I am, yes?

Well, nature isn't really the right term here.  See, because I'm all for the beach.  When it's, I don't know 85 degrees, sans cool breeze and I'm "glistening" (I don't sweat) so much that the only thing I can do is run quickly into the water to cool myself off for 2.5 seconds until I'm officially cold and then run back out to warm up on my beach blanket.  That's not really a problem with nature per se, as it is more of a genetic circulatory disorder that I am diagnosing* myself with on this here blog post.  I say genetic, mainly because my sister is almost always cold as well, and therefore it is OUR PARENTS FAULT. 



So, I designated myself official photographer at the beach, and thus eliminated any chance of developing frost bite, or touching anything wet and squiggly with my toes.  And I let everyone else play with my children!  Woo hoo!  Actually, I pretty much always take a giant leap back when Drew, family, or anyone else (random stranger?) is around, as far as child care goes, because let's face it, Mama does quite enough parenting on her own time.

Emmy wore those floaties like it was her job.  Even when no where near the water.  She's a safety girl.

The girls LOVED the beach, even though it was a little chilly.  At one point Rosa's little thighs started to quiver from the cool, but she had no intention of leaving that water.   I did dip a toe in once.  Then I buttoned my jacket.

Emmy, the mini Mama.  She does a great job of watching out for her "little bunny".    When the little bunny allows her to.  See, I'm in the background there, standing...making sure no one needs to be rescued.  Totally the fun Mom.  Watch out Mama Lohan, someone's here to compete for your title.

Unfortunately, the morning hike up the sand mountain happened to coincide with my shower time, so I had to take a pass on that adventure.  Hey, don't judge me.  I've been sharing a bathroom with 2 kids AND a man for the whole summer. 

Climbing with Nana, dressed in pajamas, socks, sandals and a raincoat.  This is why I usually dress the girls myself.



This photo makes me think of the grumpy old men from The Muppets.  I don't know why...

And back down again!  I'm telling you - these girls got spoiled with adventures.  Now how am I supposed to convince them that throwing coins into the fountain at the mall is a special treat? 

Brief intermission at the Yacht Club...

And then...off to the apple orchard!!!  What?  Could this all be happening on the same day?  Believe it.  The Lloyd family doesn't mess around. 

I was inexplicably excited for the apple orchard.  Even though it was outside and not heated.  I even had packed special apple picking outfits for everyone, which somehow we didn't end up wearing.  I love me a good orchard.  Unless there is a worm in the apple I am picking, and then, ewwww.

Some of those babies were hard to twist off.  I give her an A for effort.

I would like to thank you for this apple...and for the cool port-o-potty I got the chance to use earlier.

What we did while everyone else learned about the merits of the "donut peach".  We ended up coming home with a boat load of apples.  So, what better way to use them up than to make a batch of fresh apple cider!  Mmm...recipe follows:

Bahhhahhaaaaa.  Really?  Who do you think I am. 

* No Mom, I don't really have a medical condition...that I know of...











On Self-Awareness

While painting outside yesterday -

Me: Oh Rosa...sometimes you look so much like your Pop it's craaaazy.
Rosa:  I know I do Mama...I know I do.

Personal Revelation

I just volunteered to be the "Chair" of the "Spirit Wear" committee at preschool. 
OMG...I am sooo a Mom.
I should just go ahead and get the minivan now.
I didn't see this coming.  Someone should have warned me. 

Lloyds And Lakes And Llamas, Oh My!

Road trip 2011:  Pentwater, MI avec The Nana and Pop!  Woo hoo!!!  It was a terribly needed vacation for our family, the disgruntled construction bunch.  Oh, you didn't know about the construction?  Perhaps I haven't mentioned it yet...construction construction construction.  Well, I'll have to fill you in sometime in private.  I don't really like to complain about anything on this blog.

So, a little fun at the beach was just what we needed!  Oh, Nana and Pop, how can we properly thank you for showing us such a wonderful time?  I don't think it includes leaving bits of sand all over your house and making sure that every meal was filled with extra "personality".  We'll work on that for next year. 

The house the house, the very cute house.  Here 'tis...

That's the front porch, with the freshly painted "Asparagus Green" door.  Delightful, yes?  I am now convinced that we too, should paint our doors this color.  Drew loves this idea.  We don't have many projects going on around here, so he gets pretty bored.

I must say (knocking on wood currently) that I have to give the ladies mad props for behaving splendidly during the car ride.  We really only had the grumpies for the last 30 minutes.  And that was just one (you can probably guess who).  And by then, we could taste the sweet relief already, so it didn't bother us so much.  Also, I had my ipod on.  Loud.

We had only been there a few minutes when the girls found some beach balls and were ready to head out.  Yeah, I'm wearing my travel yoga outfit.  No, I don't practice yoga.  What's your point?

It was misting just a teensy bit.  There's nothing like taking a walk near the water to fully relax you into vacation mode.  Ahhh....

Rosa was just excited to be free.  FREEEEEEEEEEE!

Across the sidewalk from the beach, there is a nice little playground that the girls really loved.

We started off our first full day with a Pancake Breakfast at a farm nearby.  It was super yummy, and we got to work off the syrup by running around the garden area, complete with a lavender maze.  Nana always finds the best things to do.  Both educational and fun.  Things that would never occur to me.  This is one of the many many reasons we love Nana.

Rosa's leg pose in this photo cracks me up.  Oh you know, I'm just hangin' out on this cool bridge at the farm.  Whatever...

This is what a syrup high looks like.  Beware!  There is in fact a "come down" period that does not look like this.

After breakfast we headed off to a petting farm!  Oh, how Emmy was excited about this.  Pancakes AND a petting farm?  Within 20 minutes of each other?  Why do we only come here once a year? 
So we can hold it over the girls' heads for good behavior, that is why my friends, that is why.

Rosa had no fear with the animals.  Perhaps it's because she is one. 

I love a good llama.  Watch out, they spit.



I have lovingly name this baby goat "Devil goat", because its' eyes freak me out.  And so I let my small child feed him.  Because I'm adventurous like that.











Who wouldn't visit "Bunny Town" if given the opportunity?



Emmy had, for unknown reasons repeatedly asked if there would be camels at the petting farm.  To which I repeatedly answered, no, camels don't really live on a farm.

Ask me how many times she said "Moooommm, I toooooold you there would be a camel". 

Nope, higher.  Keep guessing.



A loving moment between two sisters?  Or, one using the other one as a protective shield.  It's up for interpretation.

I think Emmy would have played this duck racing game with Nana all day if we let her.  She loved it!

A perfect way to end the adventure.  Emmy is holding that bag of animal food like it's her prize.  She still mentions it from time to time, regretfully telling me how she left it at Nana and Pops' house.  I think she feels it's always good to be prepared when you encounter a random donkey or camel.  You never know where camels are going to be, really.

Rest up now.  There's much more to come...















Can I get a HALLELUJAH?!!!?

Oh my.  My sweet little Emmy, who I just birthed I don't know, a few minutes ago, is off to preschool!  Holy smokes, how time flies by.  We have been anxiously awaiting this moment for a while now.  Ever since I started researching every preschool in the greater Cincinnati area like a maniac.  I am nothing if not properly informed.  And I don't mean anxiously in the can't wait to unload her crazy on someone else for a while kind of way.  Well, maybe every once a while.  More in the TERRIFIED OH SWEET LORD LET THIS GO REASONABLY WELL AND LET NOBODY COME AWAY EMOTIONALLY SCARRED FOR LIFE kind of way.  As you may know, our Big E is on the shy side.  And I have certainly not excelled in getting her properly socialized.  We did try a tumbling class earlier in the summer as a sort of litmus test to see how things might go at school.  Yikes.  Needless to say, I did not have high hopes of making it through the day with my sanity intact.  But my big girl is always full of surprises.

We all excitedly got ready together, trying to leave as much time as possible in case of various emergencies/melt downs.  She got all fancied up like a champ.  I'm kind of obsessed with this outfit.  I want one.

Backpack on and ready to go baby!  Because I'm a cynic, I was half afraid to look directly at the smile for fear it would immediately turn to tears of refusal, or burn my retinas like an eclipse you're only supposed to look at through that tiny hole poked through the middle of a paper plate. 

Out the door and still rockin'.  It's important to get your dance on before any major events.  It gets the nervous out.  And hey, it just looks good.

Are you loving that backpack?  So awesome.  It lets Googa go to school with her.  Googa makes everything better.  Googa's my hero.

And one more time, break it down!

She looks like such a big girl in this photo.  It's hard to take it all in.

I know you think this has been a lot of pictures.  If only you knew how many I narrowed it down from.  Appreciate.

Ah, yes...that's the face I was expecting.  Still holding strong though.  Trying to say cheese, though clearly the nerves have hit.  Welcome to Herry's Helpers!  A classroom of 16, 4 year olds taught by Miss Eileen, a masters level teacher and grandmother, with an assist from Miss Judy.  They rock.   They are angels.
That's Emmy's classmate Carly in the background with the pink bow.  Her Mom always comes to school with a fresh blowout.   Does that make me not like her?  Only a tiny bit. 

I don't know why I didn't bring my camera for pick up.  Perhaps because I was scared she would greet me in tears under a table somewhere.  That's actually a true story the secretary told me about some other kid.  Yes, I called the secretary about an hour after drop off to have her go spy and report back on the battle conditions.  Why yes, thank you, that is a long time to hold out.  I thought so too.  Especially considering my favorite Mom from class waited only 10 minutes before making her spy call. 
I held it together pretty well as I was pretty much ushered out of the classroom trying to get my goodbye hugs.  It's really better if you just go.  Miss Judy did the ushering.  Rosa spent the entire 2.5 hours asking where Emmy be?  where she go?  Emmy not here?  I want see Emmy!!!  So sweet, and a little heartbreaking.  Rosa has really appreciated the first ever alone time with Mama.  Her tantrums during our time together were non-existent.  Which is, well, quite a nice change of pace. 
Are you just dying to know how it went?  Well, the secretary reported back that she was attentively listening during "circle time" and there were no tears to be seen.  INSERT GREAT SIGH OF RELIEF.  When we picked her up she was all smiles and immediately ran out to the playground and had a race around the track with her classmate Christian, a giant almost-five-year old boy, who cheats when he runs, by the way.  For a moment I thought perhaps I have picked up the wrong child.  I have never seen her play with any kid outside of family.  CUE GOSPEL CHOIR.
As we drove home I asked her how school went.  Her reply:  School was so much fun, I want to go EVERY day!!!  Can I get an AMEN?

giant camera flash + dim lighting = not subtle

But then, subtle is overrated, I think.  However, if you are trying to get some candid shots of a fabulous rehearsal dinner, I would go ahead and recommend using a camera phone or small digital pocket camera so as to not unnerve the guests who keep turning around with a "what the..." look on their face when your giant triple flash goes off.  Or, you could do what I did and quickly hand the camera over to your almost-four-year-old and then make a face right back like "dude, I know...so annoying.  (shoulder shrug) kids..." 

Oh hello there, fellow.  Carry on...

I dunno who let the party crashers in, but seriously, someone should've cut them off.

Hiya Parker!  Please note how fantastic the kitchen looks, non?  It was just redone.  Just that day.  In fact, if you look closely you can see the shadow of a well-dressed carpenter repelling from the ceiling, Mission Impossible style, to pick up an errant screwdriver.  That's how fancy people roll ya know.

I'm just gonna say it.  I don't know who any of these people are.  No offense lovely foursome pictured, it's just hard to be social when you have two short people to attend to. 

I do however believe that cute little girl in the front is from Sweden, or Switzerland.  Generally somewhere that blonde folk prevail.  She's working the look, right?

Almost a good shot.  Ahem, E I'm talkin' to you.

Oh, Mr. M, how I enjoyed your charming 2 page full format toast.  Love it.  Everybody did actually.

What started out as slight trepidation on the toastee's (if that's not a word it so should be) faces...

turned into a comforted enjoyment...

(yeah, you caught me Aunt Bonnie.  Darn that flash.)

Cute moment where Mike's Dad found Mike's Mom.  As noted in the notes.

Salud!!!

And they lived happily ever after...

Oh wait, yeah, the whole wedding thing.  Yeah, that's coming soon.